HSU Cooperative Fisheries Oceanography Research Team

The Cooperative Fisheries Oceanography Research Team (CFORT) is based at Humboldt State University and conducts research focused on informing management of living marine resources as mandated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, with a focus on the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) and particularly that portion of the CCLME off northern California. Our goal is to provide scientific information that contributes directly to improved management of marine fisheries and living marine resources in an ecosystem context. Our specific objectives include:

conducting ship-based ocean observing cruises in the historically undersampled waters off northern California in support of the Pacific Coast Ocean Observing System (PaCOOS) and Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS); and

to conduct research in fisheries oceanography and related fields with a focus on groundfish and salmonid stocks in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem.

We use a variety of research approaches, including oceanographic field surveys, laboratory analysis of chemical and biological samples, numerical and statistical modeling, and development and application of ecological theory. We collaborate with colleagues throughout the Fisheries Ecology Division and Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Humboldt State University, University of California - Santa Cruz, Bodega Marine Laboratory/University of California - Davis, and several other marine science institutions along the U.S. West Coast.

In addition to our scientific mission, we seek to enhance future research and management capacity in marine sciences by providing training and research opportunities in scientific fields critical to the NOAA mission for students in Fisheries Biology, the Environmental Systems Graduate Program in Mathematical Modeling, and other programs at Humboldt State University.